Worcester Royals
The Worcester Royals or The Royals are an American Football team from the University of Worcester. They participate in the BUCS (British University and Colleges Sport) American Football league, and have been recently promoted to D1-South West following their 2019/2020 season, where they went 8-1. Team History The Royals started off life as the Worcester Cardinals but after a few years of poorly attended training sessions, the committee decided to fold the Cardinals and re-brand the University's football team as the Worcester Royals. The team went through several months of play lead coaching and arranged an exhibition game against the BNU Buccaneers. The game took place at their High Wycombe campus and after a lengthy coach journey the Royals took to the field for the first time ever. The game was an exciting battle between the Buccaneers running game and the Royals passing game. The final score was the Royals 40, Buccaneers 30. Due to the way the Royals conducted themselves both on and off the pitch they were accepted as Associate Members of the league in June 2009 and were placed into Conference 3 North. They joined a list of excellent teams such as 2-time BUAFL champions Birmingham Lions, 3-time play-off appearing Reading Knights, local rivals at the time Warwick Wolves and completing the league were BNU Buccaneers and Oxford Cavaliers. 2019/2020 Season In more recent years, the Worcester Royals have been playing in BUCS midland divisons, with a relegation from D1-Midlands following their (0-8) 2016/2017 season. In their most recent season, the Royals went 7-0 in D2-South West, earning themselves a place in the D2-South playoffs. In the team's first playoff appearance, the Royals went 26-6 against UEL Phoenix at their home ground, allowing the Worcester Royals to continue through to the semi-finals. The semi-final game against RHUL Bears resulted in a 14-16 bitter loss for the Royals, finally ending their season win streak. Varsity 2020 followed up a two-year loss for the Worcester Royals against their rivals, Gloucestershire Gladiators. The game ended 27-18 to Worcester Royals, who could now end their most successful season in good spirits. Logo & Uniform The Worcester Royals logo (seen above right) was designed with the University colours and the royal themes being taken into account. One of the students on the team proposed the design to the club committee after his University course required him to produce a logo for one of his pieces of coursework and it got voted into use by the committee in power at the time. The Royals Uniform was bought from EP Sports and is reversible. One side is Dark Blue with Royal blue trim and the other side is White with Royal blue trim. On the chest of both sides is the team logo (see above right) and then on the reverse of the shirt is the players surname and personal number. Each player will have their individual number (see roster) and they will have that number for their time with the Royals and their time at the University of Worcester. The Royals uniform follows the Universities colours of Blue & White with the Home kit as seen below. Helmet, Pants and Socks all remain White when playing either home or away but with the jersey being reversible it is easy to chance from home and away colours. When playing at home the Royals wear their dark blue with royal blue trim and then when playing away from home they wear their white side with royal blue trim. Stadium The Worcester Royals use the Moors playing field, owned by University of Worcester (seen on the map to the left). Their first home game to be played on the pitch was against the Oxford Cavaliers finishing in a 6 - 36 defeat. Coaches The Royals have had a magnitude of coaching problems however they have now settled with a coaching structure made up of experienced coaches and players to train the team. Hired previously for his experience of special teams Jon Riddell was elected as Head Coach after their previous head coach left mid-season. Players Team Committee After the club AGM last March the following players were voted into the respective positions for the following year - Richard Penwright - Club Chairman Jon Goddard - Vice-Chairman Andy Leigh - Club Secretary Lewis Horton - Club Treasurer Mike Burnage - Social Secretary These positions will be fulfilled by the named people above unless the team vote them unfit for the job or they resign from the position and someone else is elected into the position mid-term Current Roster Hall of Famers The Royals currently have no Hall of Famers however their first season has just come to a close and the committee are contemplating putting players who are leaving University into a Hall of Fame. Award Recipients The University of Worcester reward their sports persons with Colours rewarding their sporting ability both internally and externally. The committee nominate players from the team and Student Union delegate's decide whether the supporting evidence is substantial enough to award the colours. Below are all previous colours recipients in chronological order - 2009 Season Full Colour's - Jon Goddard Half Colour's - Philip Dine, Jay Lamb, Andrew Leigh & Richard Penwright Club Colour's - Fran Rizzo Retired Numbers The Royals currently have no retired numbers but in the future they may retire leavers number who have achieved success either on the field or off the field. Season-by-Season Record This is the season by season record of The Royals since they started in 2009https://www.bucs.org.uk/bucscore/TeamProfile.aspx?id=6377 Worcester v Gloucestershire Varsity 2010 sees the first Varsity match between the 2 universities respective American Football sides. The Gloucestershire Gladiators are an associate team playing for their place in the BUAFL system next year. As part of their push to get associated, approached the Royals for an associate game and it was suggested this should be done at Varsity 2010. This fixture will take place on April 25th at The University of Worcester on the Lower Field and will be an open event for anyone who wants to attend, kick off will be at 13:00. This fixture is going to become an annual fixture at The Universities Varsity plans and the fixturewill alternate yearly between Worcester and Gloucestershire. See the respective season section for the scores. Trivia The Moors is commonly refered to as "God's back garden" amongst Royals players The saying "Rather be a sauce than a cheese" refers to the fact that each varsity county has an item named after them (Worcestershire sauce, Gloucester cheese) References External links *University of Worcester (official website) *Worcester Students' Union Sports Teams (official website) *Worcester SU Ticket Website (official ticket website for University of Worcester students) *Gloucestershire SU Ticket Website (official ticket website for University of Gloucestershire students) Category:BUAFL teams